This year, the average number of jobs created per month has decreased from 2011’s average of 153,000 to 139,000 — and if today is any indication, that average is only going to get lower.

The unemployment rose to 8.3% between May and August, and the only reason it went down to 8.1% today was due to an astonishing number of people, 368,000, who gave up any hope of finding a job and left the workforce.

Is the economy “continuing to recover” when our labor participation rate hits a thirty year low?

Is the “economy continuing to recover” when unemployment has been stuck at over 8% for 43 months in a row; when gas prices have doubled under this president; when incomes for the middle class have declined even as the cost of living has increased; with the deficit exploding and poverty increasing?

At the beginning of the year, Team Obama might have been able to make a case that things were improving, but for the last nine months this has been an economy in a steep decline according to every objective indicator available to us.

In his sad sack convention speech last night, all President Obama offered in the way of economic leadership was to tell us to be patient — which means he’s the only man standing who still believes that the policies he’s implemented will turn things around, you know, if we just hang in there for four more years of the same.

Oblivious to the harsh reality tens of millions of Americans face day in and day out, last night, President Obama offered no new policy prescriptions, no new ideas, and no indication of any kind that he’s come to the realization that something has to change if there’s any hope of improving the economy.

Here’s a scary thought: If Obama truly believes we’re headed “forward” and in the right direction, where is he intending to take us?